


Chains and Ghosts

by bioticbootyshaker



Category: Dragon Age, Mass Effect
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-26
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:34:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/647096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioticbootyshaker/pseuds/bioticbootyshaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a new relay is discovered in the Horsehead Nebula, the Alliance ensures that no one travels through it until its safety is tested. Jack, meanwhile, is charged with making a run on a Cerberus base with her platoon; but Cerberus has plans with the relay, and they will stop at nothing to further the advancement of humanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JustinCOMS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustinCOMS/gifts).



She didn’t give a shit what everyone was talking about. She’d seen the vids, and hadn’t been overly impressed, or all that interested in the wild speculations people were making. Jack had her hands full -- and unlike how she had _used_ to spend her spare time before Shepard had come along with her morals and her do-good bullshit -- Jack was busy prepping her kids. True, there wasn’t a whole lot of fighting after the Reapers had been dealt with, no giant wars or big baddies to go after. Still, there were pirates, and mercs, and more than a handful of ex-Cerberus rogues blowing shit up.

“Thought Cerberus was dead,” Rodriguez said. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist, looking up at Jack from her seat on the shuttle. 

“Never gonna be dead,” Jack said. “Illusive Man might be gone, but there’re still plenty of people who think Cerberus is right. Bastards will _never_ be done.”

“Can’t get any resources though,” Rodriguez added. “Totally out of money. Why are we being sent to deal with a group of thugs in the ass end of the Galaxy?”

“Hey, this is a cake walk,” Jack said. “They want us to rough these guys up a little, great. I don’t question where they point me and what they want. You’re gettin’ paid to crack heads open, Rodriguez. Be happy with it.”

Even still, Jack was a little uneasy. They had been relegated to the front lines without much warning; and even if it wasn’t a war they were fighting, it was one hell of a big battle. Cerberus wasn’t being funded by the Illusive Man anymore, but Jack had no doubt someone had stepped in and filled his empty chair. There was no shortage of human supporters and sympathizers. There was a real chance for her kids to shine, to show what they were made of. But there was also a chance they might die, and Jack kept the pain of that knowledge buried under her heart, deep enough where even she couldn’t closely examine it.

They hopped from the shuttle, ten of them in all. A small group, but Jack hadn’t found it necessary to bring the entire platoon for a handful of ex-Cerberus soldiers. The ship was waiting for them -- SSV something-or-other, Jack had never bothered learning the name of any ship that wasn’t the Normandy -- and if they played their cards right they’d clear out the damn camp in less than an hour and be back on board safe and sound. Or as safe and sound as they could, at least. 

Rodriguez took the right flank with three others, ducking low behind a pile of crates. Jack was a little impressed, but never said so; the minute you threw the kid any kind of kudos, she started to get sloppy. 

Jack moved to the left, keeping low and out of sight. She peeked around the stack of crates and saw three Cerberus soldiers standing about fifty yards out, each of them with assault rifles and shotguns strapped across their backs. In a straight up fight, that might’ve served them well enough, but against biotics it was akin to charging into battle with a toothpick. 

“Rodriguez,” Jack spoke into her headset. “Looks like they’re sleepin’ on the job. Give ‘em a push, wake ‘em up a little.” 

Jack watched as the biotic push sliced across the courtyard, picking the soldiers up and throwing them further than Jack’s eye could follow. She laughed -- probably not the most mature thing to do but fuck it, it was funny -- and rounded the corner, finding another stack of crates to crouch behind before calling the others forward. 

“Nice aim,” Jack told Rodriguez. “But you’re not doing any of us any good with that weak shit. I woulda pushed ‘em so hard they snapped in half.”

“With all due respect,” Rodriguez said. “You’re free to hit them next time, ma’am.”

She had a smart mouth. 

Jack kind of liked it. 

****

They made a rush through the facility. There was little resistance. That didn’t calm Jack at all. If anything it made her more nervous, raised the hair on the back of her neck a little higher. Cerberus might have been severely crippled, but it wasn’t destroyed. They could have easily set up defenses to protect their base against a handful of biotics. But there was nothing: no manpower, no mechs, no turrets, not even a few well-placed snipers. 

It was too damn quiet. 

Jack took Rodriguez with her and had the others make a final sweep of the facility before they boarded the shuttle. They found themselves in a cluttered room with consoles and dust collecting on the desks. Jack maneuvered through the mess easily enough, tapping at the console until she was greeted with a vid that played over in a constant loop. There was no sound, but she knew what she was looking at; it was the vid that had taken the galaxy by storm. 

They had discovered a new relay. 

In the same nebula Jack and her kids found themselves in; the Horsehead Nebula. The fact that there was heavy Cerberus activity in the nebula had never really concerned her, the same way it had never concerned the Alliance. They assumed that Cerberus cared little for the new Relay, considering there had been no attempts to break the line of Alliance ships guarding it. They were trying to work out where it might transport them to, if it was even safe to use; Jack doubted Cerberus would ever get to it, especially not with their manpower as depleted as it was. 

Rodriguez came over, holstering her pistol and tapping at the keys on the console like she knew what she was doing. When a different vid started to play -- with sound this time -- Jack guessed she _did_ know what she was doing. 

“2188, Twentieth of April,” the woman on the video said. The quality was grainy, the woman on the vid indistinct, broken up by wavy lines. The audio was clear enough though, save from a little bit of static. Jack leaned closer, and saw Rodriguez do the same from the corner of her eye. “A new relay has been discovered. Shepard managed to beat us before, but there’s no chance of that now. We have our scientists ready to investigate. The Alliance won’t be able to tell their own from ours.”

Infiltration, then; Jack’s mouth twisted. 

Rodriguez tapped at the console, summoning another vid. The quality was a bit better, though the woman still remained all but faceless. 

“2188, Fourteenth of May. We’re ready to enter the Relay. Our scientists have said that there’s no telling what we’ll find on the other side, but it’s safe enough to travel through. At the very least, we won’t be harmed during the actual FTL jump. We’ve heard reports that the SSV Berlin is approaching these coordinates. We’ve placed enough agents there to secure us a place on board. We’re going to the Relay. _It’s happening_. The future of humanity could depend on what we find there.”

The vid went dark. Jack stepped back from the console, curling her fingers against her palms; deep enough to hurt, to cut the meat of her palms with crescent grooves. 

“They’re going for the Berlin,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why no one’s here. We have to hurry. If they get there before us---”

Jack hadn’t cared about the Relay, and she still didn’t, but she did care about letting Cerberus slip through her fingers. Her jaw tightened, and she gripped Rodriguez by the arm when she tried to run off. “Fuckers ain’t going _anywhere_ ,” she whispered. Rodriguez looked like she was three years old, big dark eyes and lips trembling. Jack wanted to tell her there wasn’t any place for a little girl in her platoon, but she thought better of it. 

“Not supposed to swear, ma’am,” Rodriguez said. Her voice was tremulous, but she smiled, and it was a little better. 

“Yeah,” Jack said. She returned the smile, her own filled with more teeth, and squeezed on Rodriguez’s arm. “Remind me to add a dollar to the jar later.”

 

****

They boarded the shuttle, and Jack tried to raise the Berlin. There was nothing but static. She swore -- sure that Rodriguez was mentally adding up how much she owed to the swear jar as she did -- and threw her headset to the floor. Cerberus had beaten them; they were most likely already on the ship and headed for the Relay. She had no clue where it lead to -- no one did -- but she did know that Cerberus was interested, and that was all she _needed_ to know. 

She wouldn’t let them get away. 

There was chatter from the headset she’d dropped. Jack snagged it and jammed the spoke rushedly into the mouthpiece. “Hey. Hey, yeah. We need transport. Report in, Berlin, over.”

A voice she didn’t recognize: “They have the ship.”

Jack closed her eyes. 

“I know,” she said. “You gotta get us on board.”

“I don’t know how, I... I’m just the cook,” the woman whispered. Her voice was trembling, on the verge of tears. Jack wanted to scream at her to toughen up, to strap on her fucking cock and get shit taken care of, but she had learned something in the last few years. She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled slowly, before asking: “What’s your name?”

“Sarah,” the woman said. “Sarah Miller.”

“Okay, Sarah,” Jack said. “What I need you to do is get to the flight deck. That’s all. Can you do that?”

“They’re everywhere,” Sarah whispered. Another, harsher tremble wracked her voice. “I don’t think---”

“Tell me what’s around you.”

“I’m in the communications room,” Sarah said. “There’s, ah... There’s a man outside. Cerberus, I think. He has a gun and---”

“I need you to take him out.”

“ _What_?” Sarah snapped. “I can’t, I--- You’re crazy.”

It wasn’t the first time Jack had been accused of being crazy, and she doubted it would be the last. What she needed now, though, was to get aboard the Berlin and kick Cerberus the fuck off of her ship. Nothing else mattered. Sad but true, not even Sarah mattered. Her life wasn’t that important when weighed against Cerberus getting through the Relay. Jack felt like shit for thinking the way she was; she wondered when she had grown morals. 

“You can,” Jack insisted. “I need you to toughen up, okay? Knock that son of a bitch out, put on his fucking armor, and get to the flight deck.”

“He has a _gun_ \---”

“And you have a fuckin’ brain,” Jack bit. She was tired of being delicate, of being concerned with the woman’s peace of mind. She needed to move her ass, or Jack didn’t know _what_ would happen. “Use it,” Jack continued. “Take that bastard out and get back to me.”

“I just---”

“Go,” Jack growled. “ _Now_.”

****

It’d been ten minutes. Jack began to wonder if she had sent the woman to her death when her headseat crackled and Sarah’s voice was in her ear, soft but nowhere near as frightened as she had sounded earlier. “I did it,” Sarah whispered, “I... He wouldn’t stop coming after me and I had to--- There was a lot of blood.” She swallowed -- Jack heard it even over the static on the line -- and made a harsh sound that was half sob and half scream.

“Okay, hey,” Jack said, “He deserved it. He’s a piece of shit. Hey, come on. Flight deck. Patch me through to your Omni-tool so we can communicate. I’ll walk you through it.”

“They want the Relay,” Sarah said. “They said something about... human advancement.” She sighed, heavily. “I thought Cerberus was dead.”

“Never gonna be dead,” Jack said. She smiled. The kids in the shuttle shared a look of unease, but Jack never noticed. “But there’re gonna be a few more of ‘em dead after today.”


	2. Friends and Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through the Relay, Jack awakens in a world she's never seen before and is immediately met by Isabela. The woman has a job offer for her; assist Fenris in his mission to kill Danarius. Jack is given no choice in the matter, and finds herself agreeing to accompany the two to Minrathous.

Chapter Two

Jack had the woman pushed against the wall before her helmet was off and she was looking into the terrified eyes of the cook – Sarah. Well, she’d managed to keep herself alive. That was good. 

“Stay here,” Jack said, letting Sarah slip from under her forearm and slide down to the floor. Jack looked at her platoon, meeting each pair of eyes before settling her stare on Rodriguez. “You too,” she said. “Look out for her. I’ll be back.”

“But---“

“No buts, Rodriguez,” Jack said. “You wanna fight me, wait ‘til I get back. I got shit to deal with right now.”

As she was leaving, Rodriguez called: “You owe a lot of money to the jar, ma’am.”

It was almost the same as telling Jack she wanted her to come back safe. Well, shit, Jack had always taken what she could get.

“Yeah,” she called back, “I’m good for it.”

****

Jack made her way through the ship, and she didn’t do it quietly. Stealth had never really been her style. They might have been able to make it onto the ship, but as far as Jack could tell they hadn’t possessed the manpower to take more than the bridge and CIC. There were plenty of Alliance soldiers cleaning up the Cerberus troops as Jack made her way towards the front of the ship. They had no idea what Cerberus was planning, though, and while Jack didn’t know exactly herself, she knew that she couldn’t let them get through the Relay.

Whatever waited on the other side, the last thing anyone needed was a bunch of Cerberus assholes dropping in on top of them. 

_Advancement of humanity my ass_ , Jack thought. _Fuckers have only ever cared about making everyone their bitches. Ain’t gonna happen today, shitheads._

There were soldiers surrounding the entrance to CIC. They stood in front of her to block their way, but one little biotic flare and one good look in her eyes let them know that wasn’t the wisest thing to do. They stepped aside and let her in. “It’s crawling with Cerberus,” one of the soldiers warned her. “They tried to lock down the doors but I guess they aren’t as smart as they think they are. Couldn’t get around our AI. Just… be careful in there, I know you’re---“

“Don’t need a pep talk,” Jack interrupted. “Save it for some chick who gives a shit.”

She entered the CIC and dropped down, crouched. She could see a few Cerberus troops, but not enough to hold back the Alliance soldiers outside. Something wasn’t right. There was no way a few assholes could stop an entire ship of Alliance---

Except they weren’t Alliance.

The whole ship was crawling with Cerberus.

“Fuckin’ stupid,” Jack whispered to herself. “If they’re Cerberus why the hell didn’t they kill me?”

Because they wanted her to get inside, to have a little fun with her. Her entire life Cerberus had seen her as nothing more than a plaything, something to be used and manipulated and thrown out like garbage. Jack could feel her blood pounding in her veins, throbbing hot and hard at her temples. She looked down and saw she’d had her nails so tightly curled against her palms there were bloody crescent shaped grooves in the skin. She forced her fingers to relax, breathing slow and deep to calm herself.

Shepard would have never walked into a trap. She would have thought ahead, known that something was fishy the second she’d talked to Sarah. There was no way a goddamn cook could survive a Cerberus raid while Alliance soldiers died. Cerberus had wanted her on board, probably for target practice, or a little advanced training for their newest recruits. Shit, she was supposed to be smarter, supposed to have instincts…

She’d left the kids with Sarah.

“Shit,” Jack whispered. She moved back towards the door, but it was locked. “Motherfucker,” she hissed, rising from her haunches and looking around the open room. Okay, so they meant to use her for something, keep her caged, make her fight, lock her up like an animal all over again; fine, then why weren’t they attacking?

“Jack,” a voice said over the intercom. A woman’s voice, smooth and a little sensual. Shit, she sounded like Miranda with that fake ass warmth in her voice. “Do you know what Cerberus is?”

“A group of fuckin’ psychos and idiots,” Jack said.

The woman laughed. The sound crawled up Jack’s spine like razor blades. 

“Cerberus is an idea,” the woman said. “A powerful idea. So long as humans exist, we will exist. Because, you see, there will always be those who want to push us to the sidelines, who want humanity to step back from the spotlight, to hide our greatness. And we can’t allow that.”

“Nice story, bitch,” Jack said. “You gonna come out here and look me in the eye while you lie to me, or is it easier to do it this way?”

“Listen to me---“

“Fuck you,” Jack growled. “ _Fuck. You_. Go on and tell me what Cerberus does for human greatness. Keepin’ kids as slaves and test subjects, offerin’ people a safe place and turning them into fucking _monsters_. Tell me again how Cerberus puts humanity first.”

“They made a mistake with you,” the woman said. “They tried to confine you, to keep you as a lab rat, to hold you back from your greatness. No different than Shepard did, no different than what the Alliance does now. No one wants to let you grow, Jack, to let you be what you were meant to be. A powerful human biotic, capable of so much more.”

Jack wouldn’t deny the words didn’t stir her blood a little, make her heart speed up just a bit. But she was better than that, and stronger than that. She always had been, but Shepard had helped her. The woman might have been a stick in the mud, a goody-two-shoes, and too willing to stick her neck out for strangers, but she had been a damn good teacher. She’d had a good heart; good enough to care for a fucked up woman with a fucked up past like Jack.

“This shit isn’t gonna work on me, princess,” Jack said.

“Oh, you’ll achieve greatness,” the woman said. She seemed to be purring the words. It made Jack’s skin crawl. “Whether you like it or not. You are not a guest on this ship, Jack. You’re a prisoner. I will drag you to greatness.”

“What the _fuck_ \---“

There was sharp, bright pain at the back of her skull. Everything flashed for a moment, white and startling, before it settled to gray. Jack was aware of arms wrapping around her before she could hit the floor, and then everything was darkness.

****

She woke up to a woman’s face. Brown and pretty, with gold draped heavily over her throat. She smiled when Jack looked up at her, and Jack punched her in the jaw.

The woman rubbed her jaw. She could handle a punch, Jack would give her that. Most people were knocked out cold when Jack threw a right hook, but the woman only looked intrigued, a little curious about Jack. Well, tough, Jack had had enough of being gawked at. She wasn’t some fucking bug under a microscope and if the woman thought she was---

But she wasn’t the woman who had been talking to her before she’d been knocked unconscious. Jack wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did, and she had always trusted her gut. Everything and everyone had always betrayed her; but her instincts never had. 

“Fuckin’… shit,” Jack swore. She pressed the heel of her palm against the back of her head, where a nasty lump was throbbing dully. They had knocked her out and dropped her somewhere she’d never seen before. There were a hell of a lot of places in the Galaxy, Jack knew that, but she had always been a bit of a wanderer, going here and there and winding up in the weirdest places. This place, though… 

The Relay.

Jack groaned. 

The woman sighed. Not angrily, but softly, almost pityingly. Jack cracked open an eye to glare at her. “You got a fuckin’ problem?” She asked.

“No,” the woman said. “But I’d say that you do, sweetheart. Not many people wind up in gutters of Lowtown without having a problem. Come on, let’s get you standing.”

Jack ignored the woman’s hand, standing under her own power. It took her a little longer, her vision doubling and her knees trembling, she Jack managed well enough. She clucked her tongue and pushed the woman’s hands away when she reached out to steady her. She didn’t need a goddamn babysitter; what she needed was to find the bitch who had taken her through the Relay and then abandoned her on some shitty uncharted world. She needed to find her kids.

“You look like you could use a nice, stiff drink,” the woman said. “And maybe something else nice and stiff… but let’s start with the drink first.”

Jack actually smiled. Well, shit, she’d never said no to a free drink before. Besides which, she had no clue where she was, or what she was going to do, or how she was going to do it. Knocking back a few drinks couldn’t hurt, let her collect herself a little. 

“I have to say I’ve never seen anyone with as many tattoos as you have,” the woman said. “They’re very lovely. Unusual, but I’ve always liked that.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jack asked. Not unfriendly, just… curious.

“Name’s Isabela,” the woman said. She offered her hand, and Jack accepted it reluctantly, shaking with little enthusiasm. “And you are?”

“Thirsty as fuck,” Jack said. “Where’s that drink?”

Isabela laughed and slipped her arm through Jack’s. Jack didn’t care for how affectionate and handsy the woman was, but considering she probably had a pretty bad concussion, she didn’t really trust herself to walk under her own power.

“Right this way, sweetheart.”

****

Jack ignored her as soon as they were through the tavern doors and she was seated with a shot of whiskey in front of her. If the woman wanted to pretend they were friends, or possessed some kind of altruistic idea that she could help Jack with what she needed, well, she could have a hell of a lot of fun living in her delusion. Jack was grateful for the drink and that was all.

But no, this woman didn’t have an altruistic bone in her body. Jack knew that, felt it in her gut, and again, her gut had never steered her wrong. She was just curious, that was all, fascinated by a stranger. Jack knew a woman like herself when she saw one. That look of hunger and greed in Isabela’s golden eyes was hard to miss, and as was the way Isabela watched every movement of Jack’s hands and body. Not a sensual stare, no, Jack might’ve been a little interested if that had been the case. It was _attentive_ , focusing on her like a trained thief, or perhaps even a trained killer. Jack guessed that for every two bit piece of shit con-artist or bandit hanging around the tavern, Isabela had pulled the wool over more eyes than they had even dreamed of.

Everyone always wanted something, and Isabela was no exception.

“I’ve been looking for someone like you,” Isabela said.

Jack knocked back her whiskey and slammed the glass down on the bartop. She tapped the sides of it until the bartender filled it back up. “Oh, yeah?” Jack asked. “Dunno if I’m supposed to be flattered or what. You don’t know me, princess, so how do you know you need someone like you?”

“I know a tough bitch when I see one,” Isabela said. No smile, no glint in her eyes, just a hardened jaw and slightly thinned lips. Jack looked at her from the corner of her eye, chuckling and gulping down her whiskey. The heat expanded through her chest. Jack had never lost her senses when she drank, if anything it sharpened her, made her more aware of herself and her surroundings. She was aware of Isabela leaning closer, of her breath touching her ear before it even did. “I’ve got the coin,” Isabela said, “If you’ve got the time.”

“I’m not looking for work,” Jack said.

“Look, I’m not going to ride you about this,” Isabela said. She settled back with a smirk. “At least not that hard. But, you see, a… friend of mine is in a bit of trouble, and he needs assistance. Typically we have someone we lean on for support, but she’s a bit… tied up in other business right now. Foreign affairs, you know, nothing that important. Dull, really. But you look like a woman who can get things done.”

“Funny,” Jack said. “So do you.”

“Oh, I am,” Isabela murmured. “But not alone. Not all the time. Well, most of the time. But not _now._ ”

“I’ve got my own shit to take care of,” Jack said. “So, thanks for the drinks, but I’m not gonna be helping you.”

“What if I told you I know who you’re looking for?” Isabela asked.

Jack wasn’t aware she was even moving until she had Isabela by the throat and pushed up against the wall. “Don’t fuck with me,” Jack spat. “You wanna live, you don’t fuck with me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Isabela said. “I know who you want. I saw her leave you on the street. You want her, you help me.”

“Or I could kill you,” Jack growled.

“Then you’d never know where she was, would you?” Isabela asked. She was a little too calm for a woman being threatened with death. Jack doubted it was the first time Isabela had found herself in a tight spot. She had a sweet mouth, and a silver tongue; Jack wanted to drive her fist through her fucking face, but even she could admit that much. 

“Bitch,” Jack snapped, but she released Isabela. 

“Not the first person to call me that, sweetheart,” Isabela said. “And you won’t be the last.”

“Tell me about the fucking job before I gut you,” Jack ordered.

“Come with me,” Isabela said.

****

When Jack saw him, she was… a little taken aback, but hell, she’d seen weirder shit in her life. He had long, pointed ears, dark skin, darker green eyes that held candlelight like no pair of eyes had a right doing. He was tattooed, but it looked… strange. Not like a tattoo but a brand carved into him. Hell, maybe that was how the guy liked his ink to look, who was Jack to judge?

“Hello,” the man said. His voice was… rough, deep, sexy. Well, shit, Jack didn’t need that at all. She had better things to do than listen to some sexy voiced big-eared guy tell her his sob story or his problems. She had her own problems to take care of. “My name is Fenris,” he said. 

“Jack,” she said. He never offered his hand. Good, Jack didn’t want it any way. “You gonna tell me about this problem of yours?” Jack asked. She took a seat across from Fenris, watching Isabela from the corner of her eye. The woman stood by the door with her arms crossed over her chest. She was acting like a guard or some shit, which pissed Jack off. “Hey,” Jack said, “Take the stick outta your ass and sit down.”

Isabela laughed and plopped down in a chair, kicking her feet up on the table. 

“First time I’ve been accused of having a stick up my ass,” Isabela chuckled. 

“The job is simple,” Fenris said. “I need help killing my former master. This is not an easy thing for me to ask, which is why I deferred to Isabela to handle this for me---“

“My pleasure, sweets,” Isabela murmured. It seemed to be anything but her pleasure; Jack couldn’t tell if she was angry over being asked, or the nature of the job itself. Paying attention to her body language, Jack could see it was definitely the latter. She had a soft spot for Fenris, that much was clear.

“Master,” Jack said. “You mean like… what, exactly?”

Fenris straightened his back. His eyes met hers, and while Jack hated herself for it, a shiver crawled up her spine and spread through her chest and stomach. “I was a slave,” Fenris said. “His slave, to be more precise. A pet, if you like the sound of that better. He’s the reason I’ve been running for so long. He’s the reason I have no memory of my life before him. He’s the reason for… _this_.”

On the emphasized word, Fenris gestured at the tattoo that covered his body – or at least the parts of his body Jack could see. That didn’t make any sense to her, that a slave owner would tattoo his slaves, but she didn’t really bother questioning it. 

“I thought that I could wait,” Fenris continued. “That he would either let me be, or come for me eventually. But it has been far too long and I am growing impatient. I mean to strike first.”

“You don’t know shit about me,” Jack said, “And you want me to fight with you? Or for you? Or whatever the fuck you want?”

“Yes,” Fenris said. “I trust Isabela’s judgment. The nature of this assault limits us to only a few bodies… Not the manpower I’d prefer when assaulting Minrathous, but if we are careful, and smart, and swift… Danarius will never see us coming.”

“Fine,” Jack said. “I need your friend over there to tell me the name of the bitch I’m looking for, so if you want me to kill some slaver prick… _Fine_.”

Fenris blinked rapidly. “I thought you might wish to discuss payment---“

“Keep your money,” Jack said. “Ain’t gonna do me any good, trust me. I wanna make someone bleed, so let’s start with this asshole.”

Fenris finally offered his hand, and Jack took it because why the hell not. She didn’t like jumping through hoops to get what she wanted, but if she got to kill some shitbag, great. 

“We’ve got a deal then,” Fenris said. Jack wasn’t sure if it was the candlelight or not, but she thought his eyes gleamed a little when his hand touched hers. Shit, she was starting to see things. 

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Guess so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Title:** Chains and Ghosts  
>  **Word Count:** 3100  
>  **Rating:** M  
>  **Warnings:** Violence, nudity, sexual content  
>  **Fandom(s):** Dragon Age/Mass Effect  
>  **Pairing(s):** Fenris/Jack; Fenris/Jack/Isabela  
>  **Disclaimer:** Dragon Age  & Mass Effect (c) EA and Bioware
> 
> Second chapter of a commission written for exhaustedapostate on tumblr :)  
> This one is a challenge, and it's a lot of fun! My first time writing Jack, so go easy on me.


	3. Along the River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still a week's journey from Minrathous, Jack, Fenris and Isabela set up camp in the woods alongside the Imperial Highway. While resting, Fenris and Jack find out they have more in common than either of them believed.

Chapter Three

Fenris wouldn’t dare stray too close to the Imperial Highway as they journeyed north towards Tevinter. The Magisters had always been paranoid, placing guards and sentries along the road to harass any passersby they felt were out of the ordinary. Or, as the Magisters liked to say: the ones who were “up to no good”. Granted, “up to no good” typically meant they appeared poor, or elven, in which case they were brought to Tevinter to be either enslaved, or – if they showed any magical ability – apprenticed to a Magister. 

They kept to the trees, ignoring the road altogether. Every morning, either Fenris or Isabela would scout ahead to ensure there were no guards or Magisters blocking their path, and also to make sure they were following the course of the road as well as they could. Fenris had explained that as soon as they reached Tevinter, they would circle around, heading north towards Minrathous. He hoped Danarius would not be expecting him, but it was difficult for him to say with much certainty. The man might have had eyes on him for some time, and if he did, no doubt Fenris’ travels along the Imperial Highway had piqued his interest. 

It mattered little. Danarius would die, one way or another. Fenris cared little what he had to go through to end the man’s wretched existence; he would happily wade through blood, --- his enemies or even his own -- to make the Magister pay for all he had done. 

The woman had very few questions about what was expected of her. She asked, once or twice, how long their journey would take, but otherwise she kept to herself and remained quiet. Fenris was used to everyone concerning themselves with his affairs, to the point where the people he cared for were so tangled up in his problems he was no longer sure they were even his own any longer. Jack, though, seemed entirely uninterested in what he had endured and what he had escaped. When she expressed any kind of admiration, it was towards his brands, which he explained to her in as little detail as he could. 

They were nearly a week’s journey from Minrathous the night he finally looked at Jack and found she was not at all disinterested in his past, nor was she unsympathetic. Fenris could see himself in her eyes, so much guarded emotion and coldness masking vulnerability. Fenris watched the flames from their campfire flicker in Jack’s eyes, and he felt himself gravitating towards her; as though her eyes had captured the flame and he had devolved into nothing but an insect. Well, regardless, Fenris closed the distance and sat down beside her in the dirt. 

“You’ve been quiet,” Fenris said. The last thing he wanted was to sound as though he was accusing her of something. Silence was welcome, actually. Fenris had never seen the point to constant chatter and conversation. He spoke when he had something that needed saying; otherwise he kept his lips sealed. Jack, though, had struck him as the kind of woman who didn’t need to talk, but who never minded what came out of her mouth. Her silence made him uneasy, to say the least. 

“What do you want me to say?” Jack asked. “I’m sittin’ out here in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere with some dumbass guy who wants to attack an entire city, and some bitch who’s keepin’ me from my kids.”

“Isabela wouldn’t place the lives of children in danger, no matter how… obligated she might feel to assist me. She would not have you here if she believed your children would come to any harm.”

Obviously the woman wanted to say something, but she bit her tongue. It wasn’t Fenris’ intention to offend her, or rile her up into a frenzy. The last thing he wanted was to be at odds with the woman, to fight a battle long before they even crossed into Minrathous. 

Fenris settled for leaving her to her silence. But he was stopped by a shout of, “Hey!”

“Yes?” Fenris asked.

“You say this guy, this Danarius or whatever, was your master,” Jack said. “So let me ask you a question: Why the hell didn’t you kill him a long time ago?”

It was a question that had been asked many times by many different people. Hawke had wondered the same thing after Fenris had spoken of his time in Seheron and with the Fog Warriors. Why had he not simply slain Danarius? Why had he run? Why hadn’t he turned and faced the tiger a long time before? The answer was simple, and yet it was also complicated; it lived in Fenris’ heart like a sleeping snake, harmless enough unless prodded relentlessly. It bit and stung, tore at him. 

“I was a fool who believed it was better to run than to fight,” Fenris said. “I was a fool who believed it was possible for someone to change, for someone to see themselves reflected as a monster and be ashamed. Danarius feels no shame, and he feels no remorse, and he will show me no mercy.” Fenris looked at her, hoping his eyes were not as naked as they felt, that his voice did not sound as tremulous to her as it did to his own ears. “I did not kill him because I did not have the strength. My body was strong enough, but not my heart.”

“And now?”

“Now… Yes,” Fenris said. “Danarius will die.”

“I was kept in a cage,” Jack said. Now it was her turn to look away from him. What a strange pair of people they were, so unused to being vulnerable that they were ashamed of themselves. “Like a fucking dog. Used to make me fight other kids, kill ‘em sometimes. How they got their rocks off, I guess. Sick bastards.”

Fenris turned back to her, walking a little closer. “You were a slave?”

Jack seemed to struggle with the word. Most likely she hadn’t thought of herself as a slave before. After a minute, though, she looked up at him and nodded. Fenris sat back down with her, looking into her eyes. Neither of them bothered looking away, or throwing up their best line of defense. He touched her hand, and Jack didn’t pull away or punch him in the jaw, so he assumed she didn’t mind. 

“I’m sorry,” Fenris said.

“Don’t need your sorry,” Jack bit.

“No,” Fenris agreed. “But you want it.”

“Now you know what I want,” Jack laughed, bitterly. “Fan-fuckin’-tastic.”

“It’s the same thing I want,” Fenris said. “I’ve told people time and again I do not want their pity, and while that is true… I crave it, in a way. It makes me sick to rely so heavily on others when I have spent so long being on my own, being _fine_ with being on my own. But when I was at my worst I needed someone to take my hand and tell me they were sorry. It means nothing. But then it means everything.”

“Talking outta your ass right now,” Jack said, not unkindly. She smirked, not even noticing her thumb stroking over Fenris’ knuckles. She didn’t really notice when he came a little closer, either. Jack only realized he was close when his breath was against her lips and she was too damn close to his eyes to look anywhere else. “M’sorry too,” she said, not sure why, or if it mattered, only sure that she had to say it and he had to hear it. 

He kissed her, and she kissed him back. It was rough. Rough like their fingertips, hers in Fenris’ jacket, his own bearing down against her scalp. Their tongues fought, waged a silent battle for dominance, but in the end neither of them could hold control for long. Jack let her fingers slide under fabric and touch his warm skin; she dragged her finger over the pulse in Fenris’ throat, and then let her lips and teeth follow.

Fenris was breathing hard, heavy. He molded his fingers to the back of Jack’s skull, letting his eyes slip closed. “I don’t want to… to come together because of this,” he said.

“Shit,” Jack said. Her voice was too rough, too primal. Fenris shivered, feeling her teeth sink down against his jaw. “You talk too goddamn much,” Jack said. “You gonna fuck me or not?”

He supposed it didn’t have to be complicated if he didn’t _make_ it complicated. Jack seemed eager for him, as he was for her, and why shouldn’t they find some kind of comfort with one another? There had been enough pain for the both of them to last several lifetimes; it made sense that they would seek shelter together, no matter how brief and torrid. 

While he debated with himself, Jack had gotten undressed. All debate and worry ended after that. Every argument Fenris had thought of was banished from his mind when he roamed his eyes over her pale, heavily inked skin. Fenris sighed, her name or something equally shameful, and slipped down against her. His lips touched her throat, her collarbone, her breasts. He toyed with her nipples, teeth and tongue rocking and pinching and tugging and licking. Jack moaned, and Fenris felt it move through his body; not a sound but a _force_.

He kissed his way over her ribs, down her stomach, up the insides of her thighs. She was trembling, and flushed, and Fenris doubted she was used to being in such a state. Jack was a woman who very much enjoyed having control, being the one to use her mouth, to drag her nails over skin, to make someone tremble under her lips. Fenris certainly didn’t mind when she took control, grabbing him by his hair and pulling his face between her thighs. 

“Fuck,” Jack whispered. She squeezed her thighs against Fenris’ face, her fingers plunging through his hair, short nails curling against his scalp. It’d been… too long since someone had buried their face against her and worked their tongue over every little spot that made her blood surge and her skin shiver. She needed it, but she also needed _more_. 

She gripped his hair tighter and pulled his face up. Fenris came up between her thighs, over her stomach and ribs and breasts, until his lips were over hers. Jack tasted herself on his tongue and she moaned, letting her fingers rest on the sharp edges of his shoulder blades. Jack had never been one to mince words, so when the kiss was broken, she panted, “Fuck me.”

Fenris kissed the tip of her nose. He could tell Jack didn’t like that much. It was far too intimate, he assumed, though it was difficult to see how a kiss to the nose was too intimate after he’d had his face buried between her thighs. He supposed Jack was fine with primal and hungry sex, but not with something so tender. Fenris didn’t want to overstep his bounds, or make her uncomfortable; if what she wanted was to be _fucked_ , well… Fenris was only too happy to oblige. 

He moved inside of her, slow, hand resting on the swell of her breast. His thumb eased over her nipple, stiff under his callus. She was tight, but not painfully so, and Jack moved her hips to let him slide deeper, grunting low in her chest when he was as deep as he could go. It had been a while – judging by Jack’s flushed face and the way she bit her lips it had been a long while for her as well – but Fenris fell into the rhythm easily enough. It was a simple thing to remember, how to move his hips, how to use his mouth against throat and breast as he bucked. How, most importantly of all, to angle his thrusts so that each roll of his hips slammed him against the sweet, secret spot that would make her---

“ _Fuck_!” Jack growled. Her nails tore through his skin, down his back. Fenris grinned, refusing to let up, going harder and faster. His eyes flickered when her teeth found his throat. Jack wasn’t gentle. She bit him hard, deep enough for small spots of blood to meet her tongue. Fenris gasped, a terribly fragile sound, but it was all he could do. 

Fenris found himself on his back with Jack sitting on his hips. He couldn’t remember being turned over, or being mounted, but he supposed the woman had more than a few talents than he knew about. Jack bore down against his chest, her nails pressing down over his nipples. She ran her mouth from the tip of Fenris’ ear to his lips, kissing him and impaling him with her tongue. Fenris moved his fingers over her inked skin, slowly, touching every tattoo as though he meant to imprint the memory on his fingertips. 

There had never been a lover like her before. Even Isabela seemed tame in comparison; and Fenris could recall the bite marks and scratches the pirate had left on him. Jack was… something almost primal. She seemed not to be a woman as she rode Fenris and swayed her hips in quick, sharp circles. She seemed to be a force of nature; like a storm, or a raging fire – dangerous and savage, but cleansing in a way. Fenris felt wrecked beneath her, but he felt, too, that he was being made whole. It was… strange. _Exciting_.

Jack tensed. Her head tipped back, her body shuddered, and Fenris gripped her breasts as she rode him powerfully through her climax. Fenris closed his eyes. It was too much, too soon. He wanted to hold on a bit longer, to send her over the edge once more, but he couldn’t. He made a strangled noise low in his chest, one that seemed to reverberate through his bones, before he slipped out of her and came against Jack’s thigh. 

Quiet. Fenris could hear nothing but his own heavy breathing and the chirp of the crickets in the tall grass. The night was chilly, and the heat rapidly lifted from his skin. He should have built a fire, prepared their beds, set up camp as well as he could; in fact, Fenris should have done everything instead of sleeping with the woman. But she was… _unique, extraordinary._ He doubted there was a word, in his language or the language of the Marchers, that could describe her.

“I should---“

“Yeah,” Jack interrupted. “Yeah, just… Probably should go.”

Fenris wanted to tell her just what he thought of her, how effortlessly she took his breath away and sent him reeling. Instead, he left a kiss against Jack’s sweaty temple, and moved out from under her. He dressed quickly, not wanting to hang around and make her uncomfortable, or make the situation more awkward than it already was; at the same time, he didn’t want to rush off as though he had wanted nothing more from her, or as though she didn’t draw him as inexorably as a moth to a flame.

It was a delicate situation. In Fenris’ experience, he never handled delicate situations well. He guessed it was something else he and Jack had in common. 

“Thank you,” Fenris said. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing he’d ever said, but he was at a loss as to what he should have said or done.

For a wonder, Jack laughed. She bundled herself up in the torn quilt Isabela had provided her, and settled back against the grass. “Yeah,” she chuckled, “You’re welcome I guess.”

He left before he made a bigger fool of himself; though he caught himself looking back at her a handful of times as he made his way across the clearing.

Each time he looked back, he was met with Jack’s dark eyes.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Title:** Chains and Ghosts  
>  **Word Count:** 2024  
>  **Rating:** Mature  
>  **Warnings:** Violence, sexual content, nudity  
>  **Fandom(s):** Mass Effect/Dragon Age  
>  **Pairing(s):** Jack/Fenris; Jack/Fenris/Isabela  
>  **Disclaimer:** Dragon Age  & Mass Effect (c) Bioware
> 
> A commission written for exhaustedapostate on tumblr. :)


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